Einstein's warped view of space confirmed

Earth's spin warps space around the planet, according to a new study that confirms a key prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity.

After 11 years of watching the movements of two Earth-orbiting satellites, researchers found each is dragged by about 6 feet (2 meters) every year because the very fabric of space is twisted by our whirling world.

The results, announced Wednesday, are much more precise than preliminary findings published by the same group in the late 1990s.

Frame dragging
The effect is called frame dragging. It is a modification to the simpler aspects of gravity set out by Newton. Working from Einstein's relativity theory, Austrian physicists Joseph Lense and Hans Thirring predicted frame dragging in 1918. (It is also known as the Lense-Thirring effect.)

Here's how it works:

Any object with mass warps the space-time around it, in much the same way as a heavy object deforms a stretched elastic sheet, explained study leader Ignazio Ciufolini of the Universit� di Lecce in Italy.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

It just amazes me the thing this man knew before they could ever be proven!

Yes, Ive read of this before. Einstein was at least 100 years ahead of his time of you ask me. Simply amazing what this man could do.

Yeah there no doubt that this guy was way smarter then the average person. Its kinda funny that were spending billions of dollars just to see if he's right (and he always is).

Nasa launched "Gravity Probe B", (4/20/04) which will see if Einstein's theory of relativity is correct, in which case it will no longer be theory.

This probe cost 700 million, and will test 2 of his theories, 1. The geodetic effect / 2. frame-dragging effect.



[edit on 21-10-2004 by Murcielago]

Nice pic, I did a quick look and couldn't find anything that representative.

[edit on 10/21/04 by HumptyDumpty]

Just amazing. I don't know much about space science, but it's always been topic that I would stop and listen/read too. It's funny how everyones knows the name 'Einstein'. Simply a man before his time. Good find.

Originally posted by HumptyDumpty
Yes, Ive read of this before. Einstein was at least 100 years ahead of his time of you ask me. Simply amazing what this man could do.

Not only that, he made it work all in his head first, before he went ahead to find proof for all those crazy theories.

Surf

this is really cool stuff--- in one of my astronomy classes at my university we had a rather lengthy discussion about this. einstein believed that light would be refracted from the bending of space around celestial bodies. this is what the satellites are doing that Murcielago was talking about. What's really wierd is thinking about how this affects our view of the stars now-- forget the "they might not be there anymore b/c of light traveling at a set rate"-- they might actually be significant degrees different than how we see them in the sky. if the light from these stars is "bent" from another planet, star, etc. it's not that large of a change-- we're talking less than nano level change here-- but add that change into an arc over several x light years traveling here and it's pretty significant. i hope that makes sense-- sorry i need to use some charts i can't find to show what i'm talking about. just a cool thought though.

If it this is true this means that we could use earths disruption of space as jump to another far off place in the universe/ a wormhole if u will!

All that earth warps the universe stuff to me kinda sounds like when you put something in water. Like if you drag a rubber duck in the tub it moves the water around. Is it kinda like that and can we use it to make anti grav stuff?

Very interesting read
I've read a couple of books about Einstein and the theory, and I just think it's cool that his thoughts are proven right now

I'm not sure it's just the mass. I think the fact that the mass is spinning also has something to do with producing the "warping". Of course, is there any large (ie: planetary size or larger) body that ISN'T spinning? I think this tells us something, but I'm not sure what.

Im not sure if they have einsteins brain sti lbut if they do they should work out a way to im plant it into some guy who was young and healthy then he could wok out tons of stuff aswell

Originally posted by Ambient Sound
I'm not sure it's just the mass. I think the fact that the mass is spinning also has something to do with producing the "warping". Of course, is there any large (ie: planetary size or larger) body that ISN'T spinning? I think this tells us something, but I'm not sure what.

It's Mass and Momentum that bends and twists the fabric of spacetime.

EDIT: As for what it tells us, it tells us that gravity is extremely weak else we would've confirmed this theory quite a while ago. Next step is to figure out how Mass, Momentum and Inertia work at the Sub-Atomic level, because in essense those three forces(is that the right word? ) are gravity when you really think about it.

[edit on 25-12-2004 by sardion2000]

I wonder when the next revolutionary mind will step forth. We have Hawking, but frankly, I am not too impressed with his theories and constant redrawing of them.

There is so much to learn, and I hope the arrogance prevalent throughout the world does no confuse people into believing we are omniscient as a race. We must always be looking forward.

Indeed Einstein was one in a 10 billion. His concepts of time, space, and the pursuit of higher knowledge about how things work is purely wonderful. Along with his inqusitive ponderings about what could be, he reached out with his mind and showed man what he could do if he just utilized his brain. I feel that as our civilization pushes forward from Earth, we will be finding more of his work that was questioned and even scoffed at here, to be more factual out of Earth orbit enroute to the next stepping stone.